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Criminal
Justice Professor Stephen
Rice facilitated a dialogue on ways to increase transparency at the Seattle
Police Department. Hosted by the Criminal Justice Department, the December 3
meeting brought together representatives of the Seattle Police Department,
media, and legal agencies as well as local residents and Criminal
Justice Department faculty. The group focused particularly on the effective
processing of public disclosure requests of police actions.

“We
focused on the transparency and accountability goals outlined in the Seattle Police
Department’s 20/20 plan,” Rice said. “The goal of the meeting was for key
stakeholders to have a voice in establishing best practices in the public
disclosure of information to the extent allowed by law and public safety
considerations.”

“The dialogue between the media, community representatives,
and the Police Department represents an important step in developing a
communication strategy to gain public insight into Department functions,” said
Seattle Police Department Lieutenant Chris Fowler. “We want to continue this
relationship of building trust to both further our 20/20 initiative and to reach
out to our community stakeholders."